Libertas Everyone Welcome
by Jolie71
Summary: This is set in the far, space colonizing future on a planet where vampires, werewolves, and humans coexist in peace. Follow the Cullen coven and their friends through adventures and mis-adventures on this new world where sparkling in the sun is A-Ok. WARNING: may contain or refer to the non-sexual spanking of children and minors.
1. Prologue

Author's Note:

This is my first attempt at a non Harry Potter fiction. We'll see how it goes. Of course, I don't own the canon characters of Stephanie Meyer, but I do own the original characters. This is just a prologue to see if it gets any interest and if anyone would like me to continue with this idea, so PLEASE leave feedback. Thanks!

Prologue:

In the year 2200 of the common era, the inhabitants of Earth achieved the ability to travel at near the speed of light. In the preceding two hundred years, dozens of habitable planets had been located by astronomers. By 2250, a number of groups with special interests or needs had built spacecraft to take them away from their homeworld in the solar system in search of empty planets to colonize.

Vegetarian vampire-kind, having almost unlimited means, lacking the need for a number of "human comforts", and led by the Cullen Coven was one of the first groups to leave. Carlisle felt that it was only fair to open their colony to members of all species, and in the end, the vampires were accompanied by a number of werewolf packs and humans who were not afraid of the non-humans, but eager to live in a diverse colony.

Fifty years of exploration at high speeds, resulted in the discovery of a planet with a variety of geographies and a plentiful supply of hunting quality animals. Most importantly, it was empty of anything close to sentient life. The colonists from Earth would not be intruders on anyone's society, and xenobiologists projected that the colony would have a minimal impact on the planet's natural evolutionary processes.

They began their calendar at Year 1 and using astronomical data from aboard ship were able to determine the length of a year to last 300 days, each consisting of 30 hours. The total colony only consisted of 2200 individuals, 100 vampires, 100 werewolves, and 2000 humans. When they spread out over the entire planet, they found themselves with more than a little elbow room. Vampires and werewolves, having the ability to travel at high speeds under their own power, tended to settle further off from the human settlements, but usually within range to interact with humans. In order to reflect the attitude of freedom the planet's founders wished to perpetuate, the planet was named Libertas.

In the fifth year of colonization, something extraordinary happened. Esme Cullen became pregnant. It was astonishing and despite years of research, the best Carlisle would ever be able to surmise was that since Libertas was nowhere near overcrowded, 'Mother Nature' demanded the propagation of the species. Esme was the first, but not the last vampire to become pregnant.

Despite the unchanging nature of vampires, women's bellies would stretch over the course of ten months. A good deal of instinct was required during delivery and all deliveries were conducted via a crude sort of C-section, but no women were lost. Fostering a growing sense of community each passed on personal knowledge to other vampires around Libertas. However, just as suddenly as the reproductive process began, it stopped. One hundred years, four generations after Esme gave birth to twins Adam and Zackary, the fertility of every vampire woman on the planet appeared to end. In the end, the vampire population exploded to about 500 in just over a century.

Vampire children were entirely new territory for both vampire and the werewolf leaderships. They knew that turning a child was disastrous. They knew from Renesmee what a hybrid was like. There was no precedence for an actual child vampire. In the end, fears were unfounded. The children aged physically like human children, but perhaps a bit faster emotionally and mentally. When they reached their late teens and early twenties chronologically, their growth slowed to a halt. In general, Carlisle believed that girls matured to the age of twenty-one and boys to the age of twenty-five before settling into their immortal forms.

The vampire children of the Cullen Coven, in addition to Adam and Zackary, included children from Rose and Emmett as well as Jasper and Alice. Rose, of course was overjoyed to find herself the mother of Jonah, Liam, and Violet, and Emmett proved to be quite a competent father even if his methods were different than those he learned from Carlisle. Alice and Jasper first had twins Evelyn and Emmalynn before welcoming a little boy Alice would always lovingly refer to as her little soldier. Jasper thought a proper name was necessary and called the boy Robert.

Bella and Edward, however, were never blessed with more children. They considered themselves quite lucky to have Renesmee, though, and thoroughly enjoyed the prolonged experiences associated with being a loving aunt and uncle.

A half millennia has passed since the founding of Libertas and Bella finds herself with a minor mystery on her hands, because unless she was mistaken, she was with child again.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note:

Thank you to everyone who read the prologue and offered feedback. When this plot bunny came to me, this is not where it started. However, I felt that this was where it needed to start, or else there would have to be even more exposition that I've already had to include. For those of you who prefer dialogue heavy chapters, this will probably be boring. I couldn't remember or figure out if the wolves were actually immortal or just long lived, so I decided to make them immortal since it benefits my story. Apologies to canon purists.

This story is not supposed to be all about Bella's pregnancy and delivery so if you have an opinion as to whether I should do another pregnancy chapter or skip straight to the new baby's birth, please leave feedback and let me know. At this time, I don't mind giving it another chapter, so let me know.

As always, I do not own Stephanie Meyer's characters or versions of vampires and shapeshifters. On with the show.

Chapter 1:

Bella adjusted the tape measure and wrapped it around her middle again. There was no doubt about it. Her girth had increased by two inches. No wonder her usual clothing wasn't fitting the way it should.

"What are you doing?" Edward suddenly asked from behind her.

From the tone in his voice, she could tell that he was grinning at her. "Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed at him testily.

Edward laughed. "I wasn't exactly going for stealth. I thought you would have heard me coming."

Bella pursed her lips in frustration. "I was distracted," she admitted.

"I can see that, " Edward agreed with a nod. "So I'll ask again: What're you doing?"

Bella looked up at him, trying to decide if she should tell him her suspicions or if it would be better to get more information. At least he couldn't read her mind. Anyone else wouldn't have the privilege of mental privacy.

Edward frowned, looking into her eyes. "What's wrong," he crooned to her softly. "I don't think I've seen this expression on your face in decades."

Bella sighed. "I think something strange is happening to me," she confessed.

"Like what?" Edward asked, his frown deepening.

"I'm not sure," she answered as she shook her head and put the tape measure back into the sewing kit. Bella wasn't exactly the greatest seamstress, but then she didn't particularly enjoy the activity. She'd been overjoyed when textile manufacturing finally got a solid foothold on Libertas.

Edward put his arms around her and squeezed. "Are you growing?" he asked, obviously taking a cue from the tape measure.

Bella slowly nodded. "But not vertically. Edward, somehow I'm gaining mass around my middle," she explained with an intentional scientific tone. "How does that happen? I'm a vampire."

"It's happened before," Edward pointed out as he took a step back and appraised her appearance. Finally he nodded in agreement. "It's not that noticeable, but you're right."

Bella pushed him farther away in exasperation and stood in front of the mirror. "I know it's happened before, but THAT doesn't happen anymore so there must be some other explanation." When she was a human, she might not have noticed two inches all that much. She had been pretty skinny. Two extra inches might have made her look more mature. With keen vampiric sight, though, the difference screamed at her.

Edward wrapped his arms around her from behind. "True. It hasn't happened in a very long time, but that doesn't mean that it can't happen again," he whispered in her ear, and the hint of excitement was unmistakable.

Of course he was eager to consider that possibility. Edward was grateful for Nessie, but he'd definitely wanted more children once everyone else started having families. It wasn't that Bella and Edward hadn't tried. They enjoyed each other physically as much as the next couple, but Bella just never showed up pregnant. Eventually, they suspected that Nessie's delivery may have caused some kind of infertility and gave up on the endeavor.

"Edward," she said softly. "It's probably something else. Like a strange virus or something."

Edward threw his head back and laughed. "You are always so pessimistic," he admonished her lovingly. "Why don't you have Dad do an abdominal scan and see if anything interesting comes of it," he suggested. Even pregnant, vampiric women had rock hard skin. Humans had been surprised that the baby bumps had been so hard and unmoving. To other vampires, though, vampire wombs seemed malleable in the same way that vampires didn't notice the cold or rigidity of their own kind. Luckily, Carlisle had invented a device strong enough to perceive the internal structures of vampire kind during the vampiric baby boom.

Bella finally nodded in agreement. "It's probably better to let you down now than after you've gotten your hopes up."

"Bella," he countered. "You know that I only want you to be healthy and that I am completely satisfied with Nessie, Seth, Cenue, Bearn, and Edan."

The mention of Renesmee and Jacob's sons brought a smile to Bella's face. Having been a grandmother while young and able, she truly felt sorry for human grandparents who had to experience it when their bodies were less cooperative. It was a shame, that Nessie hadn't had a little girl, though. It sort of unbalanced the Cullen coven in terms of gender.

"I know," she agreed with him. "I just. . . I hate seeing you disappointed."

Edward smiled at her gratefully. "I won't be disappointed," he promised as he brought her hand to his lips and gently kissed the back of it.

Bella's worries began to melt like butter.

Edward, smirked, let her hand go and turned to leave.

"You are such a tease, Edward Cullen!" she called after him in mock anger. He didn't answer.

"Bella!" Alice called across the parking grounds.

Bella turned and for an instant, Alice could see that, as usual her vision had been correct. Alice hurried to her sister's side, unable to contain her excitement and pleasure.

Bella smiled knowingly. "Hi, Alice."

Alice looked shocked. "Hi? The most wonderful thing to happen in ages and you say 'hi'?"

"I guess you saw something, then?" Bella asked looking back over her shoulder at the hospital entrance she'd come from. She loved her sister, but sometimes it would be nice to assimilate information before the entire world knew about it.

Alice wrapped Bella in a tight hug. "Days ago," she confessed. "But I didn't want to ruin it for you and Edward, but now that you know. . ." She was practically exploding with excitement.

"Where's Jasper?" Bella asked, looking for either Alice's yellow Ferrari or Jasper's black Mercedes. He could help calm Alice down a bit.

"Oh he's at work," Alice replied dismissively. "And I told Edward I would pick you up. Have you called him yet?"

Bella shook her head. "I only got confirmation a few minutes ago."

Alice nodded. "Of course. I'll bet Dad was happy, though, wasn't he?" she said, taking Bella's arm and starting back across the parking grounds.

Bella couldn't help chuckling. "He tried to be neutral, but yes. He's happy. I wonder if this means everyone will start getting pregnant again."

"I don't know," Alice replied skeptically. "I've only seen you and Edward with a new baby."

That made Bella frown. She had always hated being different. She didn't like it when Edward couldn't read her thoughts. She felt uncomfortable at having such an easy newborn phase. Most people enjoyed being unique, but Bella really liked blending in.

"Oh don't frown!" Alice chided her with another squeeze. "You're having a baby! It's something to be happy about."

Bella took a deep breath. "You're right," she agreed. "It is something to be happy about."

Alice beamed. "That's the spirit. So have you decided how to tell the rest of the family?" she asked as they reached the hover car Alice drove at break-neck speed.

"I suppose I'll ask everyone to meet at Mom and Dad's place," she replied slowly. Living on Libertas meant that the Cullens no longer had to live where it was usually cloudy and hide who they were. Consequently, they didn't have to move all the time and relive high school repeatedly. Bella was a book editor and literary critic. Esme was an interior designer. Everyone had their own careers which fulfilled them much more than acing biology and English lit exams year after year. Since they didn't have to pretend to be a bunch of minors anymore, they also had the opportunity to build individual homes on Libertas. Being a coven, and Esme being Esme, Carlisle's house, built first upon arriving at Libertas, was considered by all the Cullen "kids" to be home.

It was a large house, though not nearly as modern in styling as some of the homes the Cullens had lived in on Earth. There were six bedrooms which were frequently filled with grandchildren when their parents went out to hunt. There was a home theater with all the bells and whistles of 3rd Millennia technology, and a beautiful kitchen which they actually used with some regularity to entertain and see to the appetites of their non-vampire family members. Personally, Bella liked the outdoor space the best. Esme kept a beautiful garden and the scents thrilled Bella's heightened senses whenever she lounged in a deck chair on one of the house's three balconies.

As Alice drove through Monsarbor, the first city settled on Libertas and home to the Cullen coven, Bella got out her communicator. She considered calling Edward first, but she really wanted to confirm their expectation in person. So she methodically worked her way through Cullens, starting with Esme to confirm that she was willing to host a little family get together that evening, and ending with her grandson Edan. On one hand, immortality for the shapeshifters meant that Bella would not have to bury her grandsons. On the other hand, it meant that they could wait indefinitely to imprint on someone. She couldn't help but worry that Nessie and Jacob's boys were lonely, despite their assurances to the contrary.

"Thanks for the ride, Alice," Bella said as Alice pulled into the Edward and Bella's driveway. "I'll see you and Jasper later at Mom and Dad's?"

Alice nodded eagerly. "I can't wait to see Edward's face live!"

Bella laughed and rolled her eyes. "I'll need to go shopping . . ." she started.

"Of course I'll go with you," Alice assured her sister before Bella could finish.

Again, Bella laughed. "Thanks, Alice. I'll see you later." She closed the door on the hovercraft and headed for her own front door, which swung open when her foot hit the bottom porch step.

"How'd it go?" Edward asked, his face expressionless.

Bella stepped up into the house. "We're going to Mom and Dad's this evening," she told him before breaking into a smile. "I want to tell everyone at the same time."

Edward wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet and spun her around laughing. "What a wonderful miracle!"

Bella laughed too. "Told you that you wanted a baby," she accused him lovingly.

Edward set her down and kissed her deeply. When he finally let her lips go, his forehead still resting against hers, he let out a happy sigh. "Did Dad use the dimonique tipped needle to get a sample of the gestational serum?"

Bella nodded before taking a small step backwards. "But it wasn't serum," she explained, leading him into the family room.

"What was it?" he asked frowning.

When the vampire women had been pregnant before, but before they had given birth, there was a lot curiosity as to what sort of fluid the babies were gestating in. Upon Esme's delivery, they found the placenta to be filled with a sort of serum that was neither blood nor vampire venom. Yet it did contain genetic material. Carlisle and the other biologists of the colony had completely new data to record and analyze with each successive birth. About halfway through the baby boom, Carlisle invented a material that could puncture vampire skin if applied to a blade or needle tip. Since vampires were described by humans and shapeshifters to be hard as stone and since the hardest stones could only be cut by diamonds, the new material was called dimonique.

Bella took an unnecessary deep breath as she took a seat on their plush leather sofa. "He said it is standard amniotic fluid," she replied. She knew that this would worry Edward. It clearly puzzled their father, and if she was honest with herself, it worried her too.

"How in the world is that possible?" Edward queried as he sat down next to her.

Bella just shrugged.

Edward frowned. "It made sense that Nessie be different. She's a hybrid. You and I are both vampires, though," he thought out loud. "We should have a normal, vampiric baby."

"Should," Bella agreed with a nod. "But then, when has anything about me actually been normal?"

Edward laughed in spite of the worry on his face.

Bella smiled, leaned over and kissed him. "Dad isn't freaking out," she told him. "So I suggest we wait and see what happens. Let's just be happy for right now."

"I think that is a wonderful idea," he agreed, wrapping his arms around her. "Why don't we do a little window shopping before going over there?" He flipped on the entertainment console and brought up the shopping network.

Bella snuggled against him, watching him browse to the baby stores, a section of the shopping net they hadn't looked at since Alice and Jasper's son Rob was little. That was almost 500 years ago. Only as a vampire could you shop for your nephew one day and find yourself shopping for your own child five centuries later. Bella just couldn't help smiling at the extraordinary nature of her species. She just hoped that this pregnancy wouldn't present any extraordinary surprises that her Dad couldn't handle.


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

Again, thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. This hasn't gotten as much feedback as my Harry Potter stories, but I'll give it a few more chapters before scrapping it in favor of other plot bunnies. As always, I do not own the characters.

Chapter 2

Edward smiled lovingly at his beautiful wife as she read a data tablet in their formal living room. The sunset poured in the front window and silhouetted her just perfectly, especially her gently swollen belly. "What are you reading?" he asked breaking the silence in a quiet tone.

Bella looked up and smiled. "A manuscript," she answered.

Edward was ecstatic that Bella had found a profession she really enjoyed. If he was honest with himself, he was pretty pleased with his music career. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "I thought about going on a hunt."

Bella wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Not today," she answered.

Edward couldn't help but frown. "It's been almost a week since you fed," he pointed out. Bella had struggled with a vampire diet her entire pregnancy. The best results came with rare steak, but that wasn't the same as regular hunting.

"I know," Bella admitted. "But it does no good to hunt and then purge," she pointed out. "Who knows, maybe something that helps us digest blood is being impaired by the baby. It's only three more weeks till the due date," she reasoned.

Edward knew it would need to be a much longer fast for Bella to actually show signs of weakness, but this was Bella and their child they were talking about. Their human child.

Carlisle had run tests on the amniotic fluid and found that the baby in Bella's womb was in fact human. At least, it was mostly human. There were a couple of chromosomal abnormalities that had mysterious implications for the baby's health, but whenever Carlisle performed a scan, she looked perfectly normal and her vitals seemed normal. For all they knew, she would be perfect.

Bella told Carlisle not to tell them the baby's gender. She wanted to be surprised, but Emma had let it slip at a Cullen family movie night. Emma, the younger of Alice and Jasper's twins, was more than a little impulsive. It seemed to Edward that Jasper spent a full 100 years teaching her to think before speaking or acting. Even now, at 550 years old, she was known to slip up. Hence why Bella and Edward knew they were having another girl.

"Have you thought about any more names?" Bella asked, cutting through Edward's thoughts. He gave a non-committal shrug as he sat down on the sofa.

"We already used Renee and Esme. Do you think we should try to make something out of Rosalie and Alice?" He had spent some time trying to sense the primitive thoughts of their daughter and the impressions he got back did not give him the feeling that either of those names would be right.

Bella also shook her head. "You know I love our sisters to pieces, but this little one will not be a Rose or an Alice."

Edward smiled, reaching over and squeezing her hand. "I was thinking the same thing."

"So what about Elizabeth? After your human mother?" Bella suggested. "We could call her Lizzie or Beth or Betsy or Bess. There are lots of nicknames that we can use once we get to know her better."

Edward smiled. "It is a beautiful name," he agreed. "Elizabeth. . ." and he trailed off as he tried to think of a good middle name to go with it.

"Nerine," Bella suddenly interjected. She brought up a reference program on her tablet hurriedly.

"Everything alright?" he asked, her behavior a little peculiar. Nerine was pretty, but Bella's urgency was strange.

Bella nodded. "I'm fine. It's just odd – the way it came to me. I want to know what it means."

"I want to say it's something mythological," Edward suggested moving to her chaise for a little scholarly snuggling.

Bella scanned the page quickly. "You're right. Nerina is a sea nymph from Greek mythology." She paused and smiled before closing her eyes. "Maybe she'll turn out to be telepathic," Bella mused. "In some ways, that made communicating with Nessie really easy."

Edward put a hand on Bella's stomach, hoping to feel a faint heartbeat from within. "Elizabeth Nerine?" he whispered. "Is that you?"

Bella laughed. "She kicked! I think that's a yes."

"Then I guess that's settled," he replied with a smile. First he gently kissed Bella's stomach and then moved up to her lips. "I love you, Mrs. Cullen."

"I love you too," she replied before kissing him again, but they lingered together for some time, and truthfully, Edward lost track of the time.

TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW TWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTWTW

Bella sat in an Adirondack styled chair on Carlisle and Esme's front lawn. It was a gorgeous summer day and the sun was really beating down. She could tell that it would be warm and that her little nymph would be asking for some pool time before too much longer. For the moment, though, learning to ride her brand new bike seemed to be Beth's first priority.

"Look at me, Mama!" she called from the end of the driveway. Thankfully, both of the grandparents' cars were in the garage with the door closed.

Bella smiled and waved. "Better pay attention to where you're going," she warned lovingly.

"Pedal faster," Edward encouraged, jogging alongside with his hand on the back of the seat to steady her. "I'm going to let go. You pedal to Grandpa." He didn't wait for her to respond.

"C'mon, Beth!" Carlisle called out from his position right in front of the garage door. "Right to me."

Esme sat down next to Bella in the other chair, a broad smile on her face. "Oh, she's really getting the hang of it!" Esme loved being a grandmother and there was something about having a human child that seemed to make her all the happier.

Bella nodded. "I don't think we could have picked a better birthday present."

Two days previous, there had been a large birthday party in Bella and Edward's backyard. The five-year-old birthday girl in question had asked for a pool party with Uncle Emmett hamburgers and an ice cream cake. For some reason, Uncle Emmett was considered by Beth to be the family grill master despite the fact that her father, grandfather, Uncle Jasper, Uncle Jacob, and male cousins were perfectly capable of producing burgers and hot dogs. Luckily, Emmett was wound quite neatly around his niece's little finger and acquiesced to her request without hesitation. In the end, it worked out nicely for Edward because he was able to play with her in the pool rather than man the grill all afternoon.

The birthday present had been the subject of discussion for almost a month preceding the event. While Edward and Bella certainly weren't hurting for financial resources, they'd tried very hard not to spoil either daughter. So there was some debate as to whether or not a five year old would appreciate just the one, "big" gift or truly prefer several smaller ones. In the end, Esme made the brilliant observation that just because Mommy and Daddy would only produce a bicycle, did not mean the rest of Beth's relatives couldn't attend the party with other gifts in hand.

It had been a close call on the schedule, but they ordered a purple bicycle with a white, unicorn adorned basket from Libertas' manufacturing center just in time for delivery the morning of Beth's party. It was one occasion when vampire hearing turned out to be a real blessing. Edward and Bella heard the truck coming a long way off, giving Bella plenty of time to distract their curious little girl while Edward accepted the delivery.

"Okay, Beth, this time Grandpa will spot you, but try to turn and do a loop. Ride back to me," Edward called out to her as Beth pedaled toward Carlisle.

Bella sat forward a little bit, remembering from her own human life how tricky learning to turn on a bike could be. It didn't help that Beth was a tad on the clutzy side.

"She can do it," Esme said in that soothing voice Bella knew very well.

Bella thought she'd be blushing if vampires could and sat back against the chair again. Esme always knew when Bella needed to relax, especially since Bella's human mother died.

It was after Renesme had matured into adulthood and moved in with Jacob. Bella's adult responsibilities were lessened quite a bit. Sure, she would always be Nessie's mom, but she wasn't needed to be the voice of reason or comfort or discipline nearly as often. With the death of Renee, Bella felt a little lost. She was so used to being the strong one for her mom. That's just how they had been. Bella knew that she'd skipped out on a lot of her own childhood. It was part of why Nessie's nature saddened her. It was hard not to feel like she was passing on the burden of early maturity to her daughter.

Bella didn't think she ever made a conscious decision to engage in more childish or adolescent behavior, but somehow she found herself making less than mature decisions. She and Edward argued over ridiculous things. Eventually, Esme and Carlisle had to step in, and because Edward loved Bella, he let it happen.

When they moved again, setting up shop as a family of adopted children like before, Bella found herself living it up to the fullest. It was hard for Edward at first, realizing that there were needs Bella had which only Carlisle and Esme could provide for, but in the end, Bella was better off having opportunities to need parents for comfort as well as a little discipline now and then.

"You know," she finally said to her mother. "I am cognitively aware that Beth is small for her age, but seeing her on that bike, it really hits home! How is she going to keep up in Kindergarten?"

Esme laughed and gently patted Bella's arm. "The same way she took on pre-school, and she will encounter children who she doesn't particularly get along with just as she has in pre-school. It's part of growing up."

"I know," Bella replied with a grudging sigh. "I just wish we could put some inches on her."

"Oh, Bella, stop worrying!" Rose admonished with a loving smile as she joined them.

Bella looked over her shoulder expecting to see Emmett, but he wasn't trailing behind Rose for a change. "Where's the bear?"

Rosalie smiled. "Helping Jonah pick out an engagement ring I believe."

"Oh, Rosalie! How wonderful!" Esme exclaimed. "So he and Kirida are going to make it official. I'm so happy for the both of them."

Rosalie nodded, still grinning. "I can't believe it's taken them this long."

"There's no rush," Bella pointed out.

Kirida was Charles and Makenna's daughter, born the same year that Jonah was. Charles and Makenna had settled in a different area than the Cullens, a region much more densely forested and isolated. When Kirida was born, though, they moved back towards the main settlement at Monsarbor. Kirida was a favorite playmate for all the Cullen kids, but she and Jonah shared a love for zoology and were lab partners for the virtual university veterinarian program. Lab partners developed into business partners when they graduated, and they were generally understood to be mated. There had never been a wedding or ceremony to that effect, though.

Bella was summoned from her memories by the unmistakable sound of her daughter crying and simultaneously scent of Beth's blood in the air. She turned to see what the cause was and sure enough, Beth's lower lip was sliced right down the middle.

"I want Mommy," Beth cried as Edward helped her off the bicycle.

"Mommy's talking to Grandma and Aunt Rose, sweetheart. I can look at it," Edward countered gently.

Beth shook her head. "I want Mommy," she repeated and started for Bella without waiting for Edward to offer any further argument.

Bella opened her arms to Beth and gave her a sympathetic frown. "What happened?" she asked.

"I. . .I. . .I fell," Beth whimpered pitifully. "On the bar."

Bella looked past Beth, over to her husband who was pointing at the handle bar. "Oh I see," she replied in as soothing a voice as she could. "Sometimes we have accidents when we try new things, don't we?"

Beth nodded, her hand creeping it's way up to her mouth. She was probably getting the sensation of it swelling, but Bella didn't want her tearing the cut any farther so she gently restrained the little hand and used her free thumb to wipe the tear drops from Beth's cheeks.

"I think Daddy wants to help you clean up your owie," Bella told Beth, nodding back towards Edward. "Can you go inside with him so he can do that? Then you can come back out and ride some more."

Beth shook her head violently, which surprised Bella. The little brunette may want Bella's attention first, but she never refused Edward, even immediately after a spanking when he was most certainly the cause of her discomfort.

"Why don't you want Daddy to help?" Bella asked her daughter with concerned curiosity. Surely she couldn't blame Edward for getting hurt.

"I don't wanna ride anymore," Beth explained with a vengeful look back at the bike.

Edward was at Beth's side within a few breaths. "Okay, buggie. We'll try again tomorrow." He held out his hand to her and as Bella had originally anticipated, Beth responded by turning to him with her arms raised. Edward bent down, picked her up, and followed Carlisle into the house.

"Oooooh, if that bike knew how much it is loathed right now. . ." Rose said before laughing lovingly at her niece. Bella and Esme joined her shaking their heads.

Esme leaned back against the chair back with a relaxing exhale. "I'm sure it will be forgiven by tomorrow."

"No doubt," Bella agreed. "I guess I won't have to negotiate with about going inside for dinner at least!"

Again, the three of them shared a laugh, knowing that raising children was ultimately a very comical experience.


End file.
